have been anxiously awaiting the U.S. release of this title. So much so that I purposely avoided the import and preview versions just so that I would be completely untarnished the day the review copies came in. Unfortunately, I think I may have expected too much from this game, as it really isn’t the Second Coming that I was waiting for.

Now don’t get me wrong, Soul Calibur II is an outstanding fighter with plenty of depth and some absolutely breath-taking graphics. This is especially true for you lucky Xbox owners who play on a HDTV, as the game in 720p is simply drool-inducing. But there are a number of areas in this title that annoy.

So many in fact, I really don’t know where to begin. For example, the game starts off with this amazing opening movie, but when you beat Arcade mode, you get three still images and some stupid (yet endearing) text. Or how about the fact that while there are a ton of new faces in the line-up, many of them have move sets from previous players.

Next, Weapons Master mode, in my opinion, is just plain stupid. Now before you Soul Calibur fans throw the magazine in disgust, listen to my reasoning. This mode encourages cheese. And I don’t mean a slice of cheddar. I’m talking a flood of Muenster.

To get past most of the challenges, repeating the same deadly move or simple button press over and over isn’t just sufficient, it is encouraged. There simply isn’t enough time or health to pass the requirements in any other way. Where is the challenge in that? I want the single player or quest modes in a fighting game to make me a better warrior, not one that requires me to pull off cheese move after cheese move. Plus, the variety in this mode is severely lacking. In one of the dungeon sequences, I fought 17 versions of the same guy in succession. Yippee.

Now I realize that most of this review has been rather negative, but I think all the criticism is deserved. That said, Soul Calibur II is still an immensely entertaining fighting game…in multiplayer. So if you buy this title and plan to spend lots of time beating the tar out of your buddies, you will get your money’s worth. If not, you might want to rent this game for a night and see if there is enough to keep you interested, as you can blow through most of the single-player content in a good long day of play.   

ANDREW REINER   8.5 You’ll definitely get your bling-bling with the Xbox version of Soul Calibur II. Stacked up against the PlayStation 2 and GameCube counterparts, this incarnation features quicker loading times, superior resolution capabilities (720p), and controls perfectly on both the analog and d-pad. The inclusion of Spawn as an exclusive playable character for this version is definitely cool, and he does seem to fit into the roster fairly well. But let’s face some facts here, people: It’s insulting to say his name in the same breath as The Legend of Zelda’s Link – who just happens to be the new character in the GC version. In this regard, the Xbox game comes up a little short. If you’re a graphics snob, you’ll drool buckets over how gorgeous this game looks on the ‘box. When it comes to all around enjoyment, however, the GC version is the better buy.